My Love for Music

I'm not a professional musician just a music lover working in another profession all of my life. I didn't bother to learn to read music or play any instrument until after I graduated from high school. The closest that I came to taking any organized music training until this time was the glee club in school and the youth choir in the Baptist church that I attended. This is where my love for Southern Gospel Music came from. 

When I got out of high school I purchased a rather cheap guitar and started learning to play by using simple song books with guitar notations and by ear. I couldn't read any music except to be able to tell when the notes went higher or lower.

While in college, several friends and I formed a group to play in bars and at dances. We would pick up additional musicians whenever someone wanted to play or sing with us. We played mostly Country and some Bluegrass. Sometimes we got paid an agreed upon amount and sometimes we played for tips. We loved it enough that we would probable played for nothing most of the time.

When I first started learning to play, the computer resources that are available today were non existent at this time. Maybe you can find some information on this site that will be of assistance to you in your quest to learn music.

If there were any suggestions that I could make to you as a beginner in reading music or learning to play an instrument would be:

1 - Start by trying to learn simple music such as country that contains the basic chords.

2 - If you decide to learn by playing a guitar, do not buy one that so cheap that it is difficult to play. 

If you follow these 2 suggestions your attempts to learn music, whether playing or reading, will help keep you interested long enough to succeed. If you make it to hard in the beginning, you may get disgusted before you succeed.

You can then go on to learn the music that you desire. If you start off with the correct sounds your music successes can be unlimited.

I'm still not a professional musician, but I have kept my love for music and play mostly when I want to "get away" or play and sing for my own enjoyment. My loves are still gospel and country music.